Buddleja
| Buddleja Butterfly Bush |
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|---|---|
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| Buddleja davidii (white flowered form) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Tribe: | Buddlejeae[1] |
| Genus: | Buddleja L. |
| Type species | |
| Buddleja americana L.[2] |
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| Species | |
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About 100 species, see text. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Adenoplea Radlk. |
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Buddleja, often misspelled Buddleia (
/ˈbʌdliːə/) but commonly known as the Butterfly Bush,[4] is a genus of flowering plants. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus honours the Reverend Adam Buddle (1662–1715), a botanist and rector in Essex, England, but who could never have seen a plant of the genus.
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[edit] Classification
The genus Buddleja is now included in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae;[5] it had earlier been classified in either the Loganiaceae or in a family of its own, the Buddlejaceae.
[edit] Description
Of the approximately 100 species nearly all are shrubs <5 m (16 ft) tall, but a few qualify as trees, the largest reaching 30 m (98 ft). Both evergreen and deciduous species occur. The leaves are lanceolate in most species, and arranged in opposite pairs on the stems (alternate in one species, B. alternifolia); they range from 1–30 cm (0.39–12 in) long. The flowers are produced in dense panicles 10–50 cm (3.9–20 in) long; each individual flower is tubular, about 1 cm (0.39 in) long, with the corolla divided into four spreading lobes (petals), about 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) across. Flower colour varies widely, with white, pink, red, purple, orange or yellow flowers produced by different species and cultivars; they are rich in nectar and often strongly scented. The fruit is a small capsule about 1 cm (0.39 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) diameter, containing numerous small seeds; in a few species (previously classified in the separate genus Nicodemia) the capsule is soft and fleshy, forming a berry.
[edit] Distribution
The genus is endemic to four continents. Over 60 species are native throughout the warmer parts of the New World from the southern United States south to Chile, while many other species are found in the Old World, in Africa, and parts of Asia, but all are absent as natives from Europe and Australasia. The species are divided into three groups based on their floral type: those in the New World are mostly dioecious (occasionally monoecious or trioecious), while those in the Old World are exclusively monoecious with perfect flowers.
[edit] Cultivation and uses
As garden shrubs Buddlejas are essentially 20th-century plants, with the exception of B. globosa which was introduced to Britain from southern Chile in 1774 and disseminated from the nursery of Lee and Kennedy, Hammersmith.[6]
Several species are popular garden plants, the species are commonly known as 'butterfly bushes' owing to their attractiveness to butterflies, and have become staples of the modern butterfly garden; they are also attractive to bees and moths. Some species of South American Buddleja have evolved long red flowers to attract hummingbirds as exclusive pollinators.
The most popular cultivated species is Buddleja davidii from central China, named after the French naturalist Père Armand David. Other common garden species include Buddleja globosa from southern Chile, grown for its strongly honey - scented orange globular flower-heads, and Buddleja alternifolia with lilac-coloured flowers. Several interspecific hybrids can also be found, notably B. × 'Lochinch' (B. davidii × B. fallowiana) and B. × weyerana (B. globosa × B. davidii), the latter the only known cross between a South American and an Asiatic species.
Some species commonly escape from the garden. B. davidii in particular is a great coloniser of dry open ground; in towns in the United Kingdom, it often self-sows on waste ground or old masonry, where it grows into a dense thicket, and it is listed as an invasive species in many areas. It is frequently seen beside railway lines, on derelict factory sites and, in the aftermath of the Second World War, on urban bomb sites. This earned it the popular nickname of 'the bombsite plant' among people of the war-time generation.
Popular garden cultivars include 'Royal Red' (reddish-purple flowers), 'Black Knight' (very dark purple), 'Sungold' (golden yellow), and 'Pink Delight' (pink). In recent years, much breeding work has been undertaken to create more compact buddlejas, most recently the production of dwarf varieties such as 'Blue Chip' (Lo & Behold™) and 'Buzz' which reach no more than 2–3 ft (0.61–0.91 m) tall, and are also seed sterile, an important consideration in the USA where B. davidii and its cultivars are banned from many states on account of their invasiveness.
[edit] Nomenclature
The botanic name has been the source of some confusion. By modern practice of botanical Latin, the spelling of a generic name made from "Buddle" would be "Buddleia", but Linnaeus in 1753 and 1754 spelled it "Buddleja". The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature has gradually changed to incorporate stricter rules about orthographic variants, and as of the 2006 edition requires (article 60, particularly 60.5) that Linnaeus' spelling should be followed in this case.
[edit] Species
The many species of Buddleja have been the subject of much taxonomic contention. The listing below is based on the most recent reviews of the genus, by Leeuwenberg (Asiatic and African species) in 1979, and Norman (American species) in 2000 (see Monographs). In the former's work, many 'species' have been sunk as varieties.[7][8][9]
[edit] Formerly placed here
- Cephalanthus glabratus (Spreng.) K.Schum. (as B. glabrata Spreng.)
[edit] Gallery
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B. davidii - Invasive species, here in an urban area
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Buddleja madagascariensis - flowers and foliage
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Unidentified Buddleja species in Igarata, Brazil
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Monarch butterfly feeding on Buddleja in Connecticut
[edit] Hybrids and cultivars
A large number of hybrids and cultivars, predominantly of B. davidii, has been raised in nurseries on both sides of the Atlantic:
[edit] RHS Award of Garden Merit
The following Buddleja species and cultivars are currently (2012) holders of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
[edit] See also
[edit] Monographs
[edit] Asiatic and African species
- Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. (1979) The Loganiaceae of Africa XVIII Buddleja L. II, Revision of the African & Asiatic species. H. Veenman & Zonen B. V., Wageningen, Netherlands.
[edit] American species
- Norman, E. (2000). Buddlejaceae. Flora Neotropica, Vol. 81. New York Botanical Garden, USA. ISSN 0071 - 5794
[edit] Cultivated species and cultivars
- Stuart, D. (2006). Buddlejas. Timber Press, Oregon, USA. ISBN 9780881926880
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Buddleja |
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Wikispecies has information related to: Buddleja |
- ^ "Genus Buddleja". Taxonomy. UniProt. http://www.uniprot.org/taxonomy/26473. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ "Buddleja L.". TROPICOS. Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40032769. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ "Genus Buddleja L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2006-04-20. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?1778. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
- ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607; OED: "Buddleia"
- ^ Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards), "Scrophulariaceae", Angiosperm Phylogeny Website, http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/orders/lamialesweb.htm#Scrophulariaceae
- ^ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Buddleia".
- ^ "Buddleja". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=29912. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
- ^ "GRIN Species Records of Buddleja". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?1778. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
- ^ Norman, E. (2000). Buddlejaceae. Flora Neotropica, Vol. 81. New York Botanical Garden, USA.
